A Kissimmee pastor is accused of filing thousands of dollars in false Medicaid claims for mental health services to people who didn’t qualify for the assistance, according to the Florida attorney general’s fraud unit.

In order to lure Medicaid recipients to Omega Alpha Nu Ministries, Lynda Lee Gonsalves-Barnes would give them kickbacks in the form of gift cards, officials said.

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A call to the Medicaid Hotline opened up a 13-month investigation that ultimately put Gonsalves-Barnes and her executive assistant, Jessica Allen, behind bars. They are charged with filing false Medicaid claims totaling more than $94,000 and with using Medicaid information without consent.

“Ninety-four thousand dollars! Why did it take that long for somebody to report her?” a neighbor said. “I thought maybe something was going up because you see all these cars, but I wouldn't never thought anything like that.”

No one answered the door when WESH 2’s Gail Pascall-Brown knocked on Gonsalves-Barnes’ house, on North Lake Court in Kissimmee.

According to an arrest report, Allen wrote mental health progress notes under a fictitious name.

Last month the women used a mother’s Medicaid information to file a claim for mental health services, but the mother never received the needed assistance with housing and living expenses, authorities said.

Investigators said Medicaid paid Gonsalves-Barnes more than $5,000 in that one case.

In another case, 140 Medicaid claims were submitted for a 1-year-old child, totaling more than $6,400, detectives said.

The property manager for the ministry said Gonsalves-Barnes still owes her $9,000.

“I don't know what she did with the money. I didn't get it for rent. She's not helping anybody. She helped herself,” the property manager said.

Allen’s mother told WESH that the allegations against her daughter, who is a college student, are false and that she is innocent.